Books you may find helpful

No matter how long you own dogs, there is always more to learn and books can be great resources for this. Below is a listing of books that may help you on your journey to learning more about working with your dog. Also included are books about other farming subjects.

Livestock Guardians, by Jan Dohner, is a comprehensive guide for farmers struggling to reduce predation of sheep, goats, and other livestock. Dohner, who has more than 26 years of experience with guardian animals, helps owners understand the keys to effective livestock protection: careful selection of the right guardian animal, proper guardian livestock bonding, dedicated training, and ongoing problem-solving.Three chapters address the use of guardian dogs; collectively, these chapters explain how to evaluate, train, understand, and socialize these hardworking canines. A separate chapter provides detailed information on many guardian breeds from around the world.

This is a complete revision of the very popular original edition of this book. Readers will find many new photographs, refined training methods and a new chapter o unusual stock. Topics include: What a livestock protection dog can do Selecting a puppy Caring for your dog Behavioral problems and solutions Preparations for a family companion Guarding unusual stock Older dogs Puppy temperament testing and training Plus much more!!!

Jump from the bandwagon to the farm with one of the hottest-growing food sources in the country. Goats is an in-depth guide to small-scale goat keeping—for pleasure and profit! The author delivers essential information on choosing, breeding, and tending goats while also herding together some fascinating and fun facts about them. Comprehensive discussions, full-color photos, and easy-to-use charts will help to ensure the success of your goat-keeping ventures.
· From cashmere to milk and meat!

· Select the right breed for your farm

· Learn common goat herd behavior

· Keep goats healthy with a nutritious diet

· Spot symptoms of common goat disease

· Breed, deliver, and care for does and bucks

· Market and sell fresh goat milk

· Explore goat resources and Web sites Plus many other helpful tips!

In addition to introducing readers to the various breeds and strains of herding dogs in the world, Herding Dogs discusses the working styles, instinct tests, trials and training for all working farm dogs. From the basic skills of stockdog training to the types of herding styles to the commands used to direct dogs at work, this useful handbook also advise newcomers on how to select the right puppy for a working ranch or hobby farm situation, how to train and acclimate the pup, solving common behavioral problems, feeding working dogs, basic first aid and more.

Digging holes in the backyard, chewing a hole in your favorite sock, running laps in the kitchen—dogs are always on the move. Why not channel some of that indefatigable energy into a hobby that can be fun for both you and your furry friend?

Training your dog (and yourself) for agility competitions will create a fun working relationship that both of you can enjoy. Find everything you need to know in this fun guide that includes information on pre-agility training, detailed advice on correction-free training, and step-by-step agility training techniques. Also learn how to make your own agility obstacles, use a clicker as a motivational tool, and officially enter agility trials.

Participating in agility competitions can build a strong, enduring bond between you and your dog. Read The Beginner’s Guide to Dog Agility to learn the ins and outs of this exciting hobby.

OR the KINDLE version

Yawning, lip-licking, sneezing, even scratching are just a few of the 30-plus signals or that dogs use to communicate with one another. Now, with On Talking Terms with Dogs, you can learn to recognize these signals and use them to interact with your dog. The new second edition has color photographs throughout with detailed captions explaining the behavior.Norwegian dog trainer and behaviorist Turid Rugaas has made it her life work to study canine social interaction. She coined the phrase calming signals to describe the social skills, sometimes referred to as body language, that dogs use to avoid conflict, invite play, and communicate a wide range of information to other dogs.

Learn to identify situations that are stressful to your dog so that you can resolve or avoid them.

Rehabilitate a dog that has lost her ability to read or give calming signals.

Become a keen observer of canine behavior at home, in the community, and among dogs to get better behavior and build a solid relationship.

This new edition has outstanding photographs with captions interpreting what you observe

or the KINDLE version

Be A Dog’s Best Friend is written in the voice of Ema, a ten-year-old with a wealth of information about how to safely interact with dogs. Ema takes her readers on a tour of all of the dogs in her life, offering tips along the way of how to best approach new dogs, play with familiar dogs, and steer clear of dogs unknown to her. Be A Dog’s Best Friend features clear illustrations of dogs demonstrating inviting and uninviting body language, as well as demonstrations of do’s and don’ts. The language used is geared toward children ages six to ten years of age. For children younger than six, adults can use the text and pictures to begin a dialogue.

If puppies are on the way, you want those newborns to have the best possible chance of survival and good health by being prepared. You can’t count on a vet being available, so breeders need to learn these skills. Learn how to administer simple but effective measures to help puppies in distress. Described in friendly, non-technical terms from a long-time breeder.

Is your dog afraid of strangers? Would he rather hide than play with other dogs? Does he take cover at the sound of thunder, or cringe when you pick up a brush or nail clippers? Never fear! Whatever your dog is afraid of, this comprehensive guide to the treatment of canine anxiety, fears and phobias can help. Topics include learning how to read your dog’s stress signals; how your attitude affects your dog’s behavior; how to set up a Firm Foundation program at home; how to establish leadership so your dog will feel more secure; the influence of good nutrition and regular exercise on your dog’s fear issues; four essential skills to teach, and how to apply them in everyday life; and much more. Written by a professional trainer/behavior consultant of over 20 years who specializes in fear issues, the book includes easy-to-follow, step-by-step behavior modification programs that really work. 15 specific fears are addressed, including those of people, other dogs, sounds, touch, nail-clipping, riding in the car, and being left alone. Get advice on products and cutting-edge complementary therapies that can help to calm your cautious canine. Filled with photographs, illustrations, and over 400 pages of specific, immediately useful advice, written in a down-to-earth and humorous style.

At long last, dogs will know just how smart their owners can be. By unlocking the secrets of the hidden language of dogs, psychologist Stanley Coren allows us into the doggy dialogue, or “Doggish,” and makes effective communication a reality.

Drawing on substantial research in animal behavior, evolutionary biology, and years of personal experience, Coren demonstrates that the average house dog can understand language at about the level of a two-year-old human. While actual conversation of the sort Lassie seemed capable of in Hollywood mythmaking remains forever out of reach, Coren shows us that a great deal of real communication is possible beyond the giving and obeying of commands.

What does the RSPCA say?

Hundreds of thousands of dogs are euthanased, dumped or surrendered every single year, because they are unwanted.

Puppy mills or puppy farms or factories are intensive dog breeding facilities that operate under conditions that fail to meet the dogs needs in so many ways for socialising, exercising and general well being. They are often, but not always large-scale operations. They exist in every country in the developed world.

Do not support puppy mills!

So what does this mean for you?

Every time you buy a puppy from a pet shop you are not ‘rescuing‘ the poor puppy, you are encouraging the pet store to buy more puppies from a puppy mill, and encouraging the puppy mill to breed another litter!

Pet shops rely on cute puppies in small cages with adorable eyes and sad expressions to trigger impulse buying from the unsuspecting but well meaning person.

Some dog facts

Female dogs come in to season roughly every 6 months. Some breeds of dogs have their first season before the end of their first year of life. Dog registration bodies have limitations for registered breeders in many countries, such as:

the mother must be a certain age (eg 2 years)

they cannot produce litters from consecutive seasons (so you must rest your dog between her litters).

In other words, your female dog is not simply a breeding machine expected to sit in a cage producing endless puppies to sell.

In nearly all cases, dogs living in puppy mills never leave their cages, or at best are let out into small ‘runs’ for ‘exercise’. They are only handled in order to keep them clean ‘enough’, and for other housekeeping tasks.

This is very different to a dog that receives patting and attention for the value they bring into their owners life, and exercise with play activities and the chance to be a part of a family.

Likewise the puppies are not handled apart from housekeeping duties, and are shipped to the pet shops at as young an age as the ‘breeder’ can get away with. Responsible breeders will not usually let their puppies leave until 8 weeks of age. The puppies are often then sent to the pet shops with misinformation as to the date of the puppies birth and are then passed off as being 7 or 8 weeks old. Some pet shops take in puppies at only 5 weeks of age, a time when they should only be in the weaning process, not stuck in a cage with nothing but a bowl of dry food.

Whilst there has been a lot of media attention given to puppy mills and pet shop practices, unfortunately the practice is still technically legal unless the RSPCA can receive the details of the puppy mill and do a spot inspection proving the mistreatment or extremely poor conditions.

You are very unlikely to have any pet shop give you any details of where your puppy was bred, and so they protect the puppy mills that are supplying them with an income.

When you factor the huge number of dogs that are euthenased each year either because they are unwanted to have serious health issues, the number that dumped in the country or surrendered to the RSPCA it is frightening to think of how many puppies are being churned out by puppy mills every year to sell to unsuspecting buyers.

Another part of your regular grooming routine is to keep your dogs ears clean.

The attached video shows you clearly how to do this yourself, and one of the most important points in this video is to ensure that you get to know what your dogs ears look like, to be able to notice if there are any changes.

Don’t wait until your dog shows signs of something being wrong to start looking in his ears!

Regular grooming of your dog is the best way to avoid many health problems, or to spot them early if they do arise!

Especially when you get your first dog, grooming can seem a little confusing and even daunting. Some dogs have short coats that require little care, whilst others may need a little more care. Once you get into a routine however it is quite easy to look after your dogs coat without too much though, just like you look after your own hair.

There are things you should do, and there are also things that you should be sure to avoid doing.

There are few routines that should form your dogs grooming regime:

1. Bathing. You should bath your dog, but it is hard to say how often, as it does depend to some degree on your dogs lifestyle, but let’s say that once a month would be good for a dog that has not become in need of a bath in between. When bathing your dog, ensure that you give the skin a good brisk rubbing through, like washing your own scalp. You can use a soft brush if that will help make things easier for you. Always use a dog shampoo, not a human one and avoid bathing too often as you will remove the natural skin oils that keeps your dogs coat healthy. Use this as an opportunity to give your dog a general check over for cuts, swellings, grass seeds, fleas or ticks.

2. Brushing. Even a short coated dog will benefit from brushing, however it is essential in a longer coated dog. Always move the brush ALONG the direction of the fibres, never against them. Work with your dog to find his comfort level, but remember if you have never brushed your dogs coat, then he may resist at first and you will have to brush gently and for short periods, making it fun until he gets used to it. Regular brushing can be done daily, but for most dogs (except long haired breeds during the moulting season) weekly will be adequate. You will notice quickly that your dogs coat will develop a lovely shine.

3. Nails. Check your dogs nails as part of your weekly brushing routine. Nails can become split and damaged and quite painful if they are not tended to on a regular basis. You should keep your dogs nails trimmed, but avoid cutting them too short or you will cut the quick which is very painful to your dog and can cause a surprising amount of bleeding. If your dogs nails have become very long, try just cutting them back a bit the first time, and the next week you can cut them back a little more. This is especially important if your dog has dark nails and you cannot see the vein inside them. As you keep cutting your dogs nails in a routine, this vein will recede and with time you will be able to get the nails shorter and shorter. Trim them in small amounts at a time to check the dogs comfort level and ensure you are not going to hit the vein or quick.

Remember that getting into a grooming routine will allow you to complete all your grooming tasks faster, and with more fun and comfort for you dog. Each grooming time will be easier too if you are not battling a tangled coat or overgrown curled up nails.

This is undoubtedly the BEST book on dogs origin and behaviour I have ever read.

I have attended a seminar by Ray which spent an entire weekend discussing the subject matter of this book and spent the entire time on the edge of my seat with interest in the unique work this man has done.

Here’s a short idea of what the book covers:

Biologists, breeders and trainers, and champion sled dog racers, Raymond and Lorna Coppinger have more than four decades of experience with literally thousands of dogs. Offering a scientifically informed perspective on canines and their relations with humans, the Coppingers take a close look at eight different types of dogs—household, village, livestock guarding, herding, sled-pulling, pointing, retrieving, and hound. They argue that dogs did not evolve directly from wolves, nor were they trained by early humans; instead they domesticated themselves to exploit a new ecological niche: Mesolithic village dumps. Tracing the evolution of today’s breeds from these village dogs, the Coppingers show how characteristic shapes and behaviors—from pointing and baying to the sleek shapes of running dogs—arise from both genetic heritage and the environments in which pups are raised.

For both dogs and humans to get the most out of each other, we need to understand and adapt to the biological needs and dispositions of our canine companions, just as they have to ours.

Well I’m quite a jigsaw fan, even if I never seem to get time to do them nowadays, and I was so pleased to find a jigsaw of a wonderful Pyrenean mountain dog guarding sheep, I want to do this one and frame it!

The dog is sitting in such a typical livestock guardian position right in the foreground with his flock of sheep grazing peacefully in the backgroud.

Whist I have not yet read this book it sounds like an interesting resource if you are looking for further information on how to raise and train your dog for guarding livestock.
Further web reading is also available at maremmano.com